


lessons

by cassyl



Series: witcher femslash february [25]
Category: Wiedźmin | The Witcher - All Media Types
Genre: F/F, Rivals
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-14
Updated: 2021-03-14
Packaged: 2021-03-23 00:00:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 479
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30046812
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cassyl/pseuds/cassyl
Summary: On her first night in Nilfgaard, Fringilla considers what Aretuza taught her
Relationships: Fringilla Vigo & Yennefer z Vengerbergu | Yennefer of Vengerberg
Series: witcher femslash february [25]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2191461





	lessons

**Author's Note:**

> Written in response to [@bamf-jaskier](https://bamf-jaskier.tumblr.com/)'s [Witcher Femslash February](https://bamf-jaskier.tumblr.com/post/641932214927523840/i-noticed-that-there-is-a-startling-lack-of-prompt) prompts!

What did they learn, Fringilla wonders. It’s her first night in Nilfgaard, and she’s lying awake, staring at the ceiling because she cannot sleep. Perhaps it’s the small hours of the night turning her maudlin, or else the day’s upheaval has made this feel like a time for summing up. She thought she would feel wiser by now, more in control of her own fate. What did Aretuza teach them, really, in the last four years?

_That power has a price._ No one learned that faster than she did, Fringilla thinks, flexing her newly restored left hand. Yennefer was there to comfort her in those first weeks, promising her that everything they suffered would be worth it once they were powerful sorceresses with court assignments and influence in the world. Fringilla believed her, too, and resigned herself to paying for the freedom she could never earn.

_That power is a finite resource, a zero-sum game._ Yennefer told her what happened to Anica and Doralis and Lark, whispering the truth in an excited rush against Fringilla’s shoulder as they lay side by side in bed on a long, quiet, sleepless night much like this one. Fringilla wept for those girls she couldn’t quite call friends. “Why doesn’t anyone stop it?” she wondered, tears dripping down her cheeks. “Why would they?” Yennefer asked, too thrilled at being let in on this secret to understand Fringilla’s grief. In the years since, whenever she caught sight of the glow of Aretuza’s great waterfall, Fringilla has been reminded that others lost control so she might gain it. 

_That no one will help them, not in any way that counts._ After the others carried Doralis out of Tor Lara, Yennefer had appeared in the door of Fringilla’s room and said, “How does it feel to be in Tissaia’s good graces now?” Fringilla said nothing, because despite the gleaming bottle in her hands, despite that tangible proof that she might actually be able to do what she had come here to accomplish, she had never felt further away from attaining her goals. She understood then—in a way that Yennefer apparently did not—that no one at Aretuza cared about training the adepts, but were only waiting to see if they’d succeed.

_That they are, in the end, alone._ When Yennefer was struggling with thought transference, they sat for hours practicing together, long after the formal lessons were done. How determined Yennefer was, has always been. Fringilla would have done anything for her, in those days. They never managed to make the connection during those practice sessions, but she still remembers how clear the violet of Yennefer’s eyes looked then, like a crystal pool with no end in sight. Fringilla thinks now that already something precious was slipping away from them, though perhaps it was something she never really had, but only imagined that she did.

**Author's Note:**

> Come find me on [tumblr](https://likecastle.tumblr.com/)!


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